[Walker]

A few weeks ago my powerbook made a terrible buzzing noise that lasted about 10 seconds. Afterwards it has run perfectly and I haven't heard the terrible sound again. However I now realize that I haven't heard the fan run since the time I heard the buzzing sound. Usually I'll hear the fan running when I've got Photoshop or other intensive applications going.

Is there a way I can force the fan to turn on? I haven't had any crashes or any other system anomilies that a person could attribute to heat issues, but I know for a fact that I haven't heard the fan in a couple of weeks.

Thanks,

lw

[Dr.Michael]

The best thing is to rip a dvd into a video cd.
This needs at least 5 hours of 100% cpu. If your fan does not start after 30 minutes it is definitely dead.

Find the software at version tracker or macupdate.

What kind of Powerbook do you have? While I was ripping a dvd I learned that my Pismo had a fan at all. The two years before it never startet.
But of course the titanium an aluminium powerbooks run very hot and the fan starts early.

[tungtied07]

Hey,
Use the Apple Hardware Test DVD.
Put in Software Restore DVD 1 in your drive and restart holding the option key. You will see a blue screen and then select the Hardware Test DVD Icon and it will boot the test from there.
The run an extended or normal test. During the motherboard testing phase, it will test BOTH of your fans out. You should be able to tell the fans are on. If the hardware test is smart enough, it will be able to tell the fans are bad. If you need to, before starting the test, hit the CTRL and L key, it should say looping on near the start test buttons. It will keep on looping until it finds and error.
Hope it help, Paul

[Chewn]

Arrg, the same this is happening to my iBook G3 800, when the computer gets really hot the fan would kick in and after about 10 mins or so i would start hearing a buzzing sound that would last untill the computer cools down, I have had my iBook for 1 and a half years and never have i heard this sound. I think my fan is broken or there is something wrong with the berrings. Anyways I call apple care and they tell me to take it in to a apple tech. But of course us canucks don't have an apple store and i have to take it in to compusmart which is 5 hours away from where i live. So i take it in and three days later they call me and tell me that there is nothing worng, when the played DVDs on it all day.. The techy said that all laptops run with there fan on.... Yeah right my friend has a ibook and the fan never turns on , and reading from some of the post some ppls fans never turn on. What the heck... Urgh... i'm so pissed off.... not only that i'm charged 44 dollers for trobleshooting... thats bullcrap. Anyways i can't pick it up untilll 2 weeks then i will call applecare again and figure this mess out. ]
Later

[MaxPower2k3]

exact same thing happened to me. 12" PowerBook fan started making a bad noise until i put it to sleep so i took it into the apple store. they took it and found no problems. i got it back, and it didn't do it again for months. since then, it's done it once a few weeks ago, but not since then. Maybe i'll do the hardware test some time to see if it catches anything

[neutrino23]

Get the application called Temperature Monitor (or similar) from Version Tracker.

Launch Activity Monitor. It's in the utilities folder in the applications folder.

Launch Safari. Got to www.iht.com. Activity monitor should confirm that CPU usage is up over 80%. The temperature monitor should confirm that the CPU is getting hot.

I don't know what temperature the fan is supposed to come on. If the temperature exceeds 90C I would close the iht window in Safari and assume that the fan wasn't working.

I have a G4 Aluminum 15" powerbook. The fan on this unit rarely comes on.